Thinking of a Coolpix 5700

[shouston at infinito.it]

on 05/11/2003 14:12, Digital Camera List at
DigiCam at lists.themacintoshguy.com wrote:

> If this is not a surprise, it might be best to consult the person who
> is getting this fantastic gift and even have her handle the cameras. I
> would vote for not making this a surprise. It's really important that
> the photographer feel comfortable with the placement of the controls,
> size of camera, etc. Personally, I find the Rebel is much easier to
> use, but maybe I tried a little harder too.
> 
> Shirley

Great advice once again. Thanks Shirley. I quoted only a small part of your
reply, though really the whole post was super.

First off, re. prices, I should point out that I'm in Europe, i.e. the land
of 20% sales tax, little competition and even less in the way of discounts,
coupons, etc. Full price is about as good as it gets :-( though the odd
online store may throw in free shipping if they had too much of the nouvelle
the night before. 

I've found the Digital Rebel at a few online stores in Europe and while the
camera is priced not too much above the 5700 (900 Euros vs. 700 Euros, + tax
in both cases), the Rebel's lense(s) push its price a lot higher. I may be
able to write off the sales tax as a biz expense (my biz), so that would
help (actually this is one of the ways you can upgrade Macs and peripherals
fairly often in Europe, as the used market is artificially high due to the
high sales tax, which is impossible to avoid, unlike the US), i.e., we might
be able to replace the 5700 with a Nikon-brand "Rebel" in 6 months to a
year, while not losing too much in the deal.

I will have to get my wife into a shop and try out the cameras, though, that
is great advice. She has smallish hands, so it's important for her to try
them out. 

Here's hoping prices start to fall as Christmas approaches!

Chris